Chapter Seven

Renewable Energy

Bringing Electricity to Revitalize Africa’s Rural Areas

Channing Arndt

Modern energy systems are changing in ways that make meeting the energy needs of dispersed rural populations in Africa and other developing regions easier.

KEY FINDINGS

Energy is crucial to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and ensuring durable rural growth and development. But almost one billion people, most living in rural areas of Africa and South Asia, still lack access to electricity.
Modern electrical systems, particularly solar power, are making it easier than ever to meet the energy needs of dispersed rural populations in developing countries.
Costs of solar systems have fallen dramatically and, together with the high solar potential in many developing countries, these systems offer a host of rural livelihood and development possibilities. As a result, genuine potential exists to ensure access to electricity for all by 2030.

Electricity brings numerous benefits—from lighting to sanitation to access to information—and even the potential to increase consumption of healthy, nutrient-dense foods where irrigation and refrigeration are introduced.
Expanding solar power use in Africa and other developing regions will require new approaches to energy planning and implementation to reach dispersed rural populations.

KEY RECOMMENDATIONS

Provide public support to increase electricity access in remote rural areas through policies to promote investment and competition among providers of distributed solar or other renewable systems.
Deliver packages of support—access to electricity plus the means to use it, such as lighting and refrigeration—to generate larger development benefits for rural communities.
Account for the impacts of adoption of new technologies within households, particularly on women, including the impact on workloads.

Be aware of potential unintended consequences of widespread technology adoption, such as more rapid depletion of groundwater resources associated with low-cost electrical pumping.
Consider the potential for enhancing rural development and serving urban electricity needs when selecting sites for power generation.

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